The Chargers’ arrival more than 50 years ago transformed San Diego into a major league city. Before that, the big ticket in town was a spot at the 50-yard line at Balboa Stadium to watch Duane Maley’s San Diego High Cavers steamroll through the local high school football scene.

From 1948 to 1959, Maley guided San Diego High to a 97-19-3 record, much of that coming against the best competition he could find in the state. All told, Maley’s Cavers claimed two Southern California championships, eight outright league titles, three shared league championships and a No. 1 national ranking in 1955 while losing only four of their 68 tilts with San Diego County squads during his 12-year tenure.

Walt Harvey counted himself among the few coaches to get the better of Maley in a 7-6 win in 1951 while at La Jolla.

And yes, it was a very big deal.

“That was the big event of the day," Harvey recalled from his home in El Cajon about a month before his death at 95.

Of course it was.

The Duane Maley File

Born: Aug. 31, 1921, in San Diego

Died: April 14, 2001, in La Mesa

San Diego impact: From 1948 to 1959, Maley’s San Diego High School-coached football teams went 97-19-3 while claiming two Southern California championships, eight league titles and three other shared titles. A graduate of San Diego High in 1939, Maley even led the Cavers to a mythical national championship in 1955, earning the honor from the National Sports News Service nearly four decades after Nibs Price led San Diego to a national championship in 1916.

Did you know: During Maley 12 years helming the Cavers’ football program, San Diego High lost just four games to county squads. His teams went 63-4-1 against San Diego-area teams, often leading Maley to look for stiffer competition further up the coast.

Not only did those Cavers teams predate the Chargers moving into Balboa Stadium in 1961, the Padres belonged to the Pacific Coast League until 1969 – the same year San Diego State became a Division I program – and the Rockets’ and Clippers’ brief stay in San Diego didn’t start until 1967 and 1978.

That left high school football, San Diego High in particular, as one of the hottest tickets in town at the time.

Even before Maley ascended to the top job at his alma mater – after graduating from USC on a football scholarship and serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II – Nibs Price had coached the Cavers to a mythical national championship in 1916 and Bill Bailey had guided the team to a 43-7 record from 1943 to 1947.

The way Maley had his players march single-file through the stands down to the field on game days only added to the Cavers’ mystique.

“I always thought that was pretty intimidating to the other team,” said 69-year-old Tom Cassie, who grew up watching Maley’s teams when his father coached baseball at San Diego High.